When it comes to cutting water consumption to be kinder to the planet, changing the coating on your loo might not be the first step you think of – but a team of scientists has given this some very serious consideration indeed.

　　提到保护地球并减少水消耗，你最先想到的或许不会是改变厕所涂层，但一个科学家团队却认真考虑了这一方案的可行性。

　　They've come up with a new type of coating that means a toilet could be flushed with around 60 percent of the amount of water used as standard at the moment, and cleaned with just 10 percent.

　　他们发明了一种新型涂层，使用这种涂层，冲厕所只需要60%的标准用水量，而清洗厕所则只需要10%的清洁用水。

　　Considering that more than 141 billion litres (37 billion gallons) of fresh water are used globally each day for toilet flushing, that's a lot of water that could be saved.

　　考虑到全球每天用于冲厕所的水超过1410亿升(370亿加仑)，这可以节省很多水。

　　"Our team has developed a robust bio-inspired, liquid, sludge and bacteria-repellent coating that can essentially make a toilet self-cleaning," says mechanical and biomedical engineer Tak-Sing Wong, from Pennsylvania State University.

　　宾夕法尼亚州立大学机械及生物医学工程师Tak-Sing Wong表示：“我们的团队开发出一种耐用的仿生涂层，可以防水、防污泥、防细菌，基本可以实现厕所自动清洗。”

　　The coating can be applied to existing surfaces using two applications of a spray. The first grows microscopic hairs on the surface of the toilet bowl, while the second adds a layer of lubricant on top.

　　该涂层通过一种喷剂的两种用途可以应用于(卫生间)现有的表面。第一种会在马桶表面形成通过显微镜才能看到的毛状物，而第二种会在毛状物之上加一层润滑剂。

　　This tackles the main problem with poop, from a cleaning perspective – it tends to be rather sticky. Testing the coating with synthetic fecal matter developed in the lab, the researchers found that 90 percent of the fake faeces just slipped right off the surface.

　　这解决了清理便便的主要问题，因为它往往比较粘。研究人员在实验室里用合成的排泄物来测试这种涂层，发现90%的假排泄物直接从马桶表面滑落。

　　The researchers also tested the coating with real poop – anonymously donated – and found the results were just as good. Even better, the slippery layers were able to effectively repel bacteria at the same time, which means fewer chemicals would be needed for cleaning.

　　研究人员还用真的便便(匿名捐赠的)测试了该涂层，发现效果一样好。更棒的是，光滑的马桶表层还能同时有效地抵御细菌，这意味着在清洁时可以少用化学物质。